A Test in Survival
by peanut0565
Summary: Peter, Claire, Nathan and his family, Matt, Mohinder, and Molly are all put under horrific circumstances that requires them to rely upon each other and more so on Peter. Can they make it through this test of survival, or die trying? AU
1. Chapter 1

_**Author's Note: **__I don't own anything you recognize. Sadly._

_ENJOY and please tell me whatcha think_

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He phased through the door and shook his head, lettingout a visible shudder as the snow fell off him. It was infinitly warmer insidehere, but still not what he use to expect from the room he was now in. With a grunt he pulled on the stringhe was holding and a small sled phased through the door behind him, a sled filled beyond its capacity of holding with supplies.

"How was the search today?" A feminine voice asked, the blonde cheerleader came into his view from the right corner. She moved towards him and looked at the pile of stuff as he shed away the outer layer of cloths, but still looking like he was in for some cold weather. He had at least two flannel shirts on over a white undershirt and a pair of cordroys with a pair of long underwear underneath them. All this topped off with a pair of army black boots, thick gloves and a hat that he rarely removed because of the conditions.

"No survivors, but I managed to uncover and break into an abandoned Walgreens, Most of the stuff is still useable after a bit of defrosting, I took what I could carry." Peter commented, hanging up his outside gear on the coat hanger near the fire for warming. He then came back and helped Claire pull the sled of supplies over to the open fire that was in the far corner. The fire they manufactured after realizing the one in the fireplace was not going to cut it anymore in this blizzard.

"How is everyone?" He asked, eyeing the bundled up cheerleader. She wore at least three layers, making her slightly resemble one of those over size plushie toys. Peter had found out the day before that he could quite literally poke Claire and she wouldn't even have felt it under that ammount of clothing.

But layers were good, Layers kept with the freezing weather that accompanied this storm. Inside it hovered around -15 farheineit perminenantly, out side it was more like -45. That kind of weather only increased with the roaring winds, making it feel more like -75, enough to kill a person within minutes. Peter was the only one that were able to set foot outside. He could last a few hours, enough time to go out get supplies and return. At least from this first trial he noticed.

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They had taken refuge in the Petrelli's Mansion, the basement to be more precise. The room was large enough to house all the survivors they had managed to find, and keep some fires going. After the first day of the storm the house was buried under ten feet of snow, and the temperature dropped almost a hundred degrees within the day.

The ones in the house at the time the storm hit, managed to get into the basement and lock themselves in from the large wave of cold ocean water. It took Peter all his telekenetic and body strength to keep the door firm, of course Nathan helped as well. Heidi, Monty, Simon, and Claire all watched the two in horror, thinking this might be their last moments of life. After the water had settled down from the crashing torrents the door was able to hold up on its own, but the temperature dropped dramatically. The two brothers immediatly set to work on disarming every chair in the room and starting a fire in the fireplace.

Peter had always knew the government wasn't much use during emergencies, Katrina was always one to pop to mind. But this crisis had the whole world in its grasps it seemed, and everyone was caught off guard. By the time they heard the news to try and go south, it was already too late for them and everyone north of Washington DC. They had to wait it out, and hope to god it didn't last as long as the weather hd been predictiong, 6-8 weeks.

Peter had flown up and phased through the ceiling of the basement to gather cloths for the group, taking a total of six trips with just clothing. After that the six had put on at least two layers a piece plus a winter coat, Peter took Claire and ventured out into the blizzard conditions. The eye of the stormed seemed to have approaching them, they could see the clearing from when they exited the mansion, and hastily set out in search for survivors.

They first went to Mohinder's place, finding Matt, Molly and Mohinder huddled in the corner covered in four blankets, shivering. With them, Peter and Claire helped them back into the mansion. And one at a time, Peter phased each one down into the basement. By the time he got the last one down the eye was over them, and everything froze over. They figured this when the door they locked crystalized and spread down on the floor a little ways.

Peter wanted to venture out again and look for supplies, but everyone seemed to disagree with him and almost rather forcefully kept him from going for awhile. It wasn't until two days later and people were getting dangerously hungry and thirsty that Peter was able to venture out into what he described as a tundra, that was once New York City.

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"Everyone's asleep. I think Heidi and Monty are sick though, not like the rest of us though, but really sick." Clair commented quietly glancing over to her step mother who had her arms protectively around Monty. The two were on the couch, curled up near the fire. Nathan had his other son, Simon, curled in his arms in the corner nearest the fire place. Matt, Molly, and Mohinder were all clammered together as they had been when Peter and Claire found them in the apartment, covered underneath a thin quilt in the corner nearest them and the second fire that was built.

"Most of the supplies I got is food that just needs defrosting, I also managed to get several blankets, enough for all of us to have two, and nyquil to help with sleeping." Peter ran through a ragged list of his supplies. "It should be enough to last us a couple of days, then I'll go out again." He sighed rubbing the back of his neck.

After a moment of ackward silence Peter tugged at the mass pile on the sled and unraveled four blankets, two in each hand. He moved over to Heidi and Monty and laid two over them, half tucking them in and smiling weakly at their peaceful sleep. He then moved over to Nathan and Simon, and began to cover them as well.

"Peter?" Nathan's voice sounded tired and wary, more then he usually admitted too. Peter cringed, He didn't want to wake him up. "You went out? I told you don't..." He mumbled, staring at Peter with a half glare and half fatigue from the cold.

"We needed supplies, Nathan, You weren't going to stop me from trying to save us." He returned. "You could have frozen to death." Nathan countered. "But I didn't."


	2. Chapter 2

_10 days later..._

He phased through the floor of the living room, which was directly above the basement, but after phasing He didn't have the strength to float and cushion the drop. He landed back first on the ground with a loud thud, followed by a low groan. Luckily He managed to keep a hold of the precious arm full of medication in his arms.

He slowly pried his eyes open to be met with three sets of eyes; Nathans', Claires', and Mohinders'. They were all staring at him with concern, the levels varying from great to little, the same with confusion. He had a new coat on, a different one then he went out with. But what really baffled and worried them was the blood tracks underneath the new coat, and three large scrapes in unison on his left cheek.

"What happened?" Nathan finally asked. Mohinder took the supplies from Peter's half frozen arms and pulled them away to their half storage area. "Wolves." Peter gasped, his voice filled with pain. "How come you didn't heal?" Claire asked incredulously. They had the same powers after all, and her's hadn't shown signs of weakening lately. But then again she hasn't been injuried severely as of recently. "It's a slower process in cold..." Peter offered a suggestion, grunting as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Let me Help you." Nathan said suddenly, reaching for the collar of Peter's coat and beginning to tug at it. Peter cringed as the coat was peeled off him, and his injuries were shown to extent. His elder brother couldn't suppress a gasp as the coat he had originally was drenched in blood, and riddled in tears. The entire left sleeve was removed, revealing a slowly healing mangled left arm, several large chunks of muscle and skin missing. Nathan was amazed that he was able to keep a hold of the medications with an arm in that condition. Peters back was littered with scrapes and claw marks. His right hand was missing three fingertips, but it suggested that much of the part had been just freshly regrowned.

"Peter..." Nathan knelt down next to him, not sure what to do for him. There wasn't much he could do for his younger brother, except wait for the healing power to take its full effect. "I got what I could for Heidi and Monty." He said gruffly, pulling himself to his feet before Nathan could protest to it.

He stumbled over to Mohinder, Nathan and Claire closely following him, half expecting the sponge to crumple to the ground and stay down. "One of these should save them..." He muttered quietly to Mohinder, then moved closer to the fireplace. He passed Simon, Molly, and Matt who were engaged in a lengthy game of Monopoly. They stopped and watched him pass, shock written all over their faces at his injuries.

Peter moved passed the couch, pausing just slightly at the shivering mother and son restlessly sleeping there. He gave them a small hopeful smile then moved on to the corner where a cushion of blankets were, where he slept. He knelt down and rolled over into the entanglement and wrapped himself within it, quickly falling into a pain-filled exhausted sleep. Everyone who was still awake watched him carefully as he did this, and then went on with their affairs, figuring he'd be as good as new after some sleep, he always was.

Mohinder filled with the bottles of medication, reading the labels and looking for the ones he needed. After deciding on that he took two of the syringes, and filled them with the medication, and traveling over to the nearly dead Monty and getting to that point Heidi. Nathan followed Mohinder, hovering over his shoulder, one concern exchanging for another in an instant. The indian doctor knelt down to the couch and pulled back the four layers of blankets on the mother and child. He then put one syringe in his mouth to hold onto as he rolled up Monty's sleeve to reveal an almost deathly pale skinned arm. He pricked the boy and injected the liquid quickly, then repeated the same process to Heidi.

They were not offically sure what they were sick with, but they had been trying different medications, what Peter could get on his trips outdoors. The four injections of other antibotics before this had no affect. The fifth one didn't affect Heidi, but seemed to quickened the disease's progress in little Monty. They had to find a cure soon, or he would die within days. Mohinder hoped this would be it, but all they could do was wait now.

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Peter sat up quickly, gasping for breathe. A thin layer of cold sweat layered his face. A nightmare that was so horrid that it was expelled from his mind so quickly that when he tried to remember it, it was just out of his grasp. He looked over himself, and found all his injuries from the wolf attack were gone, leaving only the blood remaints.

After he calmed his breath he glanced around the dimly lighted room. Mohinder, Matt and Moly were all curled one another, sleeping near the fire. He could see Claire near them, her face sticking out underneath a mound of blankets near the other small tribe in the corner. Nathan was sleeping sitting up, leaning against the couch where his wife and son were. Simon was nestled into his side. Peter crawled slowly over to the couch to check the conditions of his sister-in-law, and nephew in particular.

Monty looked worse, if that were even possible. His face was chalky white and his lips a pastel blue. He also noticed the lack of movement, even the shiver was gone. Peter felt his heart begin to crack then, as he shakily placed two fingers on the boy's neck. He closed his eyes and searched for a pulse.

_1 second... 2 seconds... 30 seconds... 1 minute..._

He felt tears prick his eyes and begin to fall slowly. Monty was gone. As his arm dropped down to his side. He opened his eyes slowly and glanced towards his elder brother. Nathan was looking directly at him, with a look that startled Peter to the core. It was of complete sorrow.

The first time Peter saw Nathan cry was when Meredith died, though he didn't understand what had happened at the time. And the second time was when his youngest son, Monty, passed. Peter looked down to the floor, utterly speechless.

"I don't want Simon to see his brother like this." Nathan whispered in a monotone voice, void of all emotion.

"Where should I take him?" Peter was very careful not to use 'his body' or anything similar to that. Nathan sighed. "You remember where Dad was buried right?" He asked quietly. "Of course, Nathan..." Peter said almost defensively. How uncaring did Nathan think he was towards his deceased father. "The exact spot?" Nathan prodded again. Peter nodded. "Take him there, When this storm is over, We...We can have a proper...funeral for him." The last part Nathan choked up a little, almost as if he remembered it was his youngest son they were talking about.

"Okay."


End file.
